AAC&U General Education Conference, March 3-5 2011

A Special Sort of Project Management: Academic Administrative Leadership and Effective General Education Reform

A significant feature in the academic landscape today, general education reform figures prominently in the portfolio of an institution’s provost, chief academic officer or dean. This facilitated discussion will present principles, structures, practical advice and challenges to enhance familiarity with the process from the perspective of the academic administrative leadership. The goal is to increase the likelihood that an institution, along with its academic leader, will successfully navigate the challenge of general education reform. Key outcomes will include strategies for higher-level planning and stakeholder analysis, recognition of common problems and solutions, and a focus on methods for framing this high-stakes reform. Conceptualization of general education reform as a project and the academic leader as a particular kind of project manager informs this session, as does the importance of developing and maintaining processes with integrity to achieve multiple ends.